The House Across The Lake

Absentia

"What do you mean? This isn't my home. Take me back." I demanded

He shook his head, slowly, as if he were rebuking a small child as if I were a small child. For some reason, that felt worse than if he were to treat me aggressively. I almost willed him to yell at me or to tie me up like a neglected animal. When he looked over to me, I could see the color in his cheek dampen, all he could do was blush. When the smile spread across his face, I realized that without that semblance of color, his skin looked just as unnatural as if he were still wearing the dollar-store face paint. I shuddered to think of how similar it looked to a cadaver in a funeral home- dolled up as not to frighten away mourning relatives.

Even from a minute or so before, he looked even gaunter than when I first stumbled into him. "I'm sorry but I couldn't even if I wanted to. You are home now," He repeated emphasizing the role of letter and word "are". "Don't you see, we don't have to be alone anymore." He was almost begging I realized, like Evan at the party.

Then I understood.

Like you, perhaps like Evan too, this man before me; he was simply afraid of being alone.

He sighed, almost relieved when I did not respond although, I think he was waiting for my next reaction. He had been running his hands through his hair, disturbing a fleck of white paint. It streaked through the wavy chestnut which somehow, made him appear significantly older.

I tried hard I really did, to resurrected the pity I felt for this man only moments before, but while those eyes tracked me like a lost puppy, I could feel nothing but cold.

I would have jumped up at that moment, tried to run, but something else entirely robbed my attention, as a silent scream latched itself to my uvula and refused to travel any further.

My throat burned.

The sun was rising, I could tell by the golden hue, accentuating the fluorescent blue of the moonlight. The lurking shadows in their respective corners steadily grew more prominent, as if the rising sun were bringing them to life. It was as if the sun was giving them the strength to grow, consuming the room in a deeper contrast, making the lines of objects appear more harsh and cruel.

I had not noticed when the hat-man settled himself into the chair of spiderwebs, and though physics denotes that the chair should have crumbled under its weight, it remained sitting there as if it had not been touched for decades. Nonetheless, now he sat in the chair, leaning his head against the wall, his arms resting in his lap. He had one leg crossed over the other. It jiggled nervously as now, his eyes strayed away from me and rested on the image of the rising sun. A brief smile brushed his face, something wet bristled about his eyelashes and I realized he was crying.

Soon the room transformed around me, into a softer, less terrifying place.

So too, the man changed

He mouthed something, "at last" or "the past" perhaps.

I do not know for sure.

His skin, previously youthful and clear, sagged under the eyes and stretching around the mouth. It greyed where there was pink, and greened where there was blue. His lips peeled back away from his teeth so that at first, it was as if he were sneering like a rabid dog but in fact, the lips were simply disappearing, disintegrating or... decomposing. It tanned against the prominent cheekbones until only the bone was visible. The bone was not white like I assumed, but rather a crackling dirty copper.

His teeth began to rot, one by one, dropping to the floor, until they disintegrate into dust, in front of my eyes, the dust blowing away with the draft. While all this took place, the skeletal hand of the branch clanked against the windowpane, clattering like a xylophone of dancing bones.

Its eyes remained. Staring, now unblinking with no eyelids to cross their glance. I could hardly stand it.

The corpse in front of me ceased moving and from the slack, toothless jaw, the surprisingly soft voice began its brief monologue.

"That night, that Halloween night, I was late to the dance because of a dizzy spell. On my way to the kitchen, I tripped on the stairs, fell. I could not move. I waited but they never came home. I waited at the bottom of the stairs until the next day, then the day after, then after that and still they did not come home. No more, now you are here, now I no longer have to wait, because you have come home. Now, I will no longer be alone."

As he spoke, his skeleton too slowly turned to dust, clothes unwinding themselves, deflating into the broken chair, and even as the sun rose to the climax of dawn the dust drifted away with the draft, speckling the morning sunbeams like a thousand specks of broken glass.

The eyes were the last to disappear, falling first to the floor just as his teeth had done before.

When his entire body disappeared, so too the voice ceased. I saw him no more.

I tried to escape the next day. All-day I tried, but every attempt found me returning to this dreaded house. I used the tug boat to row to the next shore, I ran in the woods, I even swam across the lake, but every time I fled, no matter how many times, it didn't matter.

This place will not let me go.

Will, I do not think I have much time left, and there is so little space, oh gosh.

Please brother, you can't leave me here, you have to help me, to save me. I can't be left here to die. It's already been a few days since then, I've tried a couple more times to escape but... I always end up here. I'm losing hope Will, I don't know how much longer I will last. I can survive on water from the lake but as far as food, well I ate a granola bar in my pocket yesterday. There's nothing left. Will, save me, please save me. Plea...

Note:

The pencil etchings throughout the text continued to grow larger and darker, indicating panic in the penmanship. At the very end of the final page, Lucy's last word breaks off into a long streak of lead, indicating that the pencil had snapped. Lucy's Copy of the Bell jar was found in the described bedroom. Though time has further aged the house, Lucy's belongings remain rather unchanged. The disappearance of Lucy Gardner and the strange events that coincide continue to remain a mystery. 

Obituary

On October 31st, 2029, Lucy Gardner, age 19, was declared dead in absentia; exactly 20 years after her disappearance. She was born on March 21st, 1990 at St. Anne's Hospital to (late) Arthur and Susan Gardner. She graduated with top honors from Kennedy High School before studying English Composition at Sherman Lakeside College. She was a member of the Kennedy High School gardening club and often volunteered in the Happy Paws Animal Shelter. Lucy loved to read, garden, and play with her adopted kitten CeCe. Lucy was a solitary soul content with her time alone alongside her books. However, she was a natural caretaker and was loved very much by her siblings, including younger twin, William Gardner. Lucy was compassionate, introspective, and zealously imaginative and is remembered for her uncanny ability to brighten anyone's day. She was preceded in death by her Father Arthur Gardner and Brother William Gardner. Lucy is survived by her Mother Susan Gardner; Sister Christy and husband David Dean; Sister Jessica Gardner, as well as her Nephew's Lucas and Benjamin Dean. She will be continually missed by family and friends. A memorial service will be held at Valley Reformed Church  Saturday, November 3rd, at 2:00pm. Per the family's request, any donations can be given to Project Jason and The Doe Network.